Caribbean Net News: Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez wants Cuba to attend next month's Summit of the Americas, which will be held in Port of Spain, Trinidad. "If we are all friends of Cuba, we cannot continue accepting impositions from the North American empire," Chavez said on radio and television in Caracas.

The Trinidad Express reported that the Venezuelan leader, a strong ally of Cuba, said that many Latin American countries such as Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico, Paraguay, and Uruguay and several Caribbean countries were friends with Cuba. The report also stated that Chavez was critical of US President Barack Obama when the US president stated that Chavez had been an obstacle for development of Latin America. "What ignorance," Chavez said. "The biggest obstacle is the empire over which you (Obama) now preside."

Trinidad Prime Minister Patrick Manning was scheduled to travel to Caracas last Saturday to meet with Chavez to discuss next month's summit, but the Venezuelan President was forced to call off the meeting because of urgent local business. Reports from Port of Spain on Tuesday said that Manning will fly to Caracas on Wednesday to meet with the Venezuelan leader.

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